Researchers find ways to sniff keystrokes from thin air

Researchers find ways to sniff keystrokes from thin air

www.itworld.com

IDG News Service —

That PC keyboard you're using may be giving away your passwords. Researchers say they've discovered new ways to read what you're typing by aiming special wireless or laser equipment at the keyboard or by simply plugging into a nearby electrical socket.

Two separate research teams, from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and security consultancy Inverse Path have taken a close look at the electromagnetic radiation that is generated every time a computer ...

(visit the link for the full news article)

From what I understand, anybody with the knowledge of how to use the materials can do this. This could mean that when you're typing a message on your laptop in your local Starbucks or library, somebody other than your friend could be listening. If this information is being revealed at this point, I wonder what the government agencies are already capable of doing.

www.itworld.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

It's scary that we have to worry about our own privacy.

I'm shocked that it's even an issue in the first place.

he he this is pretty cool.

There was a you tube vid I've just remembered, a guy found out that if he got his guitar amp set up and he took the lead, held the plug (the one that goes into the guitar) and held it right up to the keyboard lead you could hear the different keys being typed and a series of very fast clicks.

What's scary is they've been able to collect info from computer monitors for years.

I thought it was crazy when I heard of it but it's been studied pretty conclusively.

TEMPEST

Yup serial data is being sent from your keyboard and because of the EMF it causes it doesn't take much to receive it from a device near by and convert that information back into the characters being typed. The problem is all the other RFI (radio frequency interference) being caused by other computer components.
You can take a small AM/FM radio and tune it to a clear channel near the end of the dial, set it next to your computer and hear the EMFs being caused by the electronics. Just moving a mouse around or pressing a key will let you hear the sounds change from flow of data. It's possible because serial data is timed at frequencies that can cause RFI to near by devices like radios.
To decode the RFI is another story. Since there are SO MANY random signals being caused by a computers components it is damn near impossible to single out one of those signals, or to find what keys were pressed out of the tons of gibberish the other RFI is causing.

Besides all that if some technology exists that can really pull information out of thin air as to what you are typeing by nothing more then RFI caused from a computer, there is one other major problem with this idea- distance. All components inside your computer are required to comply with the FCC regulations, thus any signal generated by even your keyboard is very limited to how much interference it can cause and for how strong the EMF is.
Once again, take that AM radio that you can hear the noise on, slowly move it away from your computer. I bet you can't get a few feet away before it goes back to only static. See my point?
There are better more efficiant ways to track what you are doing on a computer then this.
Edit: okay the artical says 22 yards via using the power lines as an arial. Impressive but still I can think of much easier ways to get the same job done. Besides the powerline idea probably wouldn't work with laptops or newer keyboards and power supplies that have RF chokes on their connectors.

[edit on 3/13/2009 by darklife]

This world is just getting more stupid all the time.

Nothing is sacred and everyone is dumb as fok, claiming we are save from the government.